


Of Christmas and Presents

by carzla



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Christmas, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Secret Santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-09
Updated: 2012-01-09
Packaged: 2017-10-29 06:51:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/316942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carzla/pseuds/carzla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Christmas is just round the corner! And when there’s Christmas, there’re presents to be given out and surprises galore! After a round of drawing lots for a game of Secret Santa, the Seigaku Regulars begin their task to find the perfect present, whilst keeping it a secret from any one else. Will everyone receive pleasant surprises?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Written in 2005 during the week leading up to Christmas.

Christmas would be approaching in exactly two weeks’ time. Being the last year (even the first _and_ last year for one particular Regular) this current winning batch of tennis regulars would be together, Ryuuzaki-sensei decided that it would be a very good idea for them to do something special for each other. After all, Christmas _was_ a time for giving and sharing.

There was too little time for a short trip to the holiday resorts. Most of them would’ve been booked to the max already. Ryuuzaki-sensei was also sure that the regulars’ families would probably have something planned for them. So it had to be something that could be completed within a full day at most, since she was planning for it – whatever ‘it’ was – to occur on Christmas Eve.

Hmm… Now what could she plan for those bunch of boys…?

* * *

“Hoi! I wonder what this special meeting is about?” Kikumaru Eiji asked as he followed behind the rest of the Seigaku Regulars up to the classroom where they were going to meet their coach.

“You’ll know when you get there, Eiji,” replied Fuji Syuusuke with his ever-present smile still on his face, though it had widened slightly as he watched his red-haired friend bound over to ask Oishi Syuichirou, their vice captain, the same question.

“But really, Fuji-sempai,” came second-year Momoshiro Takeshi’s loud voice, “It’s kind of strange having a meeting, isn’t it? Hmm… Aha! Maybe the old lady is planning on giving us a treat!” As usual, the energetic violet-eyed boy was thinking of food.

Fuji just smiled while some of the others laughed and rolled their eyes. Inui Sadaharu, data analyzer of the team, scribbled something in his notebook again. Nobody ever knew what the bespectacled young man wrote for he never showed his notebook to anyone else.

“ _Fshuu…_ All you think of is food,” Kaidou Kaoru, the other junior on the regulars, hissed under his breath. He and Momoshiro were archrivals. They got onto each other’s nerves almost every single day. Fighting and quarrelling between the duo was commonplace. It would be terrifying if they ceased to fight and compete with each other completely.

The rest of the short journey to the classroom was filled with speculation on what the meeting was about. Momoshiro and Eiji dominated the discussion, with the occasional input by Fuji, Oishi and Kawamura Takashi, the number powerhouse of the team. There were also a couple of irritated hisses from Kaidou and the sound of Inui’s pencil on his green notebook. The only two completely silent ones were Tezuka Kunimitsu, the team captain, as well as Echizen Ryoma, their first year tennis ace.

The nine regulars entered the designated classroom where Ryuuzaki-sensei was already waiting for them. She waited until they were all seated before proceeding to speak.

“I’m sure all of you are interested to know why I’ve called you here,” the coach started. “Well, seeing as this winning team of Seigaku can only be together for this year and that Christmas is on the way, we should do something special in addition to having a Christmas party in school.”

“Ooh! What are we doing then?” Eiji asked eagerly, his blue eyes wide with anticipation.

“Have any of you heard of this game called ‘Secret Santa’?” Ryuuzaki-sensei asked the nine boys before her. There were five confused looks, two of understanding and two of usual expressionless stares. “Inui, would you like to give an explanation?”

“Secret Santa is a Christmas game that originated from the West. A group of people draws lots to see whom they are supposed to buy a present for. They’re supposed to keep it a secret. Only on Christmas Day itself, or the designated day, then the receivers will discover who their ‘Santa’ is,” Inui rattled off from his seat.

“Thank you, Inui. That is basically how the game works. A while later, all of you are going to the classroom five doors down the corridor to draw lots. Keep the piece of paper with you. You are not allowed to swap the slips of paper bearing the names of your teammates.”

“Why are we having the drawing of lots so far away?” Momo asked. “It’s so inconvenient!”

“Since this is partly a game of chance, some of you might be… _overly surprised_ by who you draw. Thus to keep the ‘secret’ part of “Secret Santa” alive, you can make all the noise you like in said room before returning,” Ryuuzaki-sensei replied with a somewhat sadistic smile. “Sakuno and Tomoka will be helping me make sure that you don’t try to change the slips of papers after you’ve drawn them,” she added.

“Hoi! This sounds fun! Who will I get?” Eiji pondered, already prepared to bounce of to the classroom where the drawing of lots would be done.

“Right then. When I call your name, you will leave to draw a name out of the box. As I’ve said before, make as much noise as you want in that classroom, but when you return, you are _not_ allowed to give so much as a hint as of whom you’ve drawn. If not… I’ll ask Inui to arrange a _special_ present just for you.”

There was a collective gulp across the room.

As well as a strangely sinister glint from a particular pair of reflective spectacles.

“Ryoma. You’re first.”

The first year student stood up from his seat and strode nonchalantly out of the door. He continued his way down the corridor and stopped in front of the fifth classroom. Opening the door, he stepped inside.

“Ryoma-sama!”

 _Yup. Definitely the correct room_ , he thought as he pulled his cap lower.

“Ah! Ryoma-kun…”

Ignoring the two girls, Ryoma went up to the box that was sitting on a front row desk. He placed his hand inside and randomly grabbed a piece of paper. He pulled it out and unfolded it. Written in a tidy font were the words: _Kikumaru Eiji_.

“Who did you get, Ryoma-sama?” Tomoka asked.

“Kikumaru-sempai,” he replied in his usual uninterested voice and started out of the door before Tomoka could ask more.

He wasn’t the best with selecting presents, but he decided that it shouldn’t be too hard to find something for his energetic and acrobatic senior. Kikumaru-sempai probably wouldn’t mind anything from his favorite ‘Ochibi-chan’. All in all, Ryoma thought it was not a bad draw. He could’ve gotten somebody who was more difficult… like perhaps Fuji-sempai.

Ryoma reentered the room where the other regulars were, still as calm as before. Ryuuzaki-sensei merely smiled at him and motioned for him to return to his seat. He had placed the slip of paper bearing his senior’s name into his pocket, knowing that Momo-sempai would somehow try to sneak a peak even though it was against the rules.

“Alright, next. Momoshiro.”

“Great! Let’s see who I’ll get!” Momo said as left the classroom.

* * *

However, once Momo had drawn and unfolded the paper, his good mood disappeared at the speed of Hyoutei’s Ootori Choutarou’s Scud Serve.

“ _ **NANI!?**_ ” was the first thing out of Momoshiro’s mouth as soon as he had read the words on the paper.

“Who… who did you get, Momoshiro-sempai?” Sakuno asked cautiously. Momoshiro-sempai’s outburst didn’t seem like a good thing…

Tomoka, as usual, was much more straightforward than her friend and looked at the piece of paper in Momoshiro’s hands. Said boy had pretty much frozen after his shocked outburst. The girl’s face blanched a little as she read the name and understood why the usually cheerful Momo was so shell-shocked.

“Eh Sakuno… Momoshiro-sempai drew… _Kaidou-sempai_.”

The mentioning of the name of Seigaku’s Viper seemed to snap Momo out of his trance. Which probably wasn’t a very good thing. The next moment, two first year girls could be seen crouched in a corner, hands covering their ears as Momo started to rant. Loudly.

“KAIDOU!? _MAMUSHI!?_ This has _got to be_ one big joke! What in the _world_ do I get for him? It’s KAIDOU! Kami-sama, what did I do wrong this time?” Momo fumed, somehow still managing to remember that if he didn’t lower his volume, even someone on the ground floor would hear him. Perhaps it was the threat of a special present from Inui that made him do so, but for now, it was not _that_ important in his mind. “Why do _**I**_ have to be the one?! Why am I even _CARING_ in the first place?!”

The ranting went on for a good five minutes, in which Sakuno and Tomoka decided that they would become permanently deaf if they came into contact with Momoshiro any longer. When that five minutes passed, Momo waved a sullen goodbye to the duo and stalked out of the classroom.

* * *

“Saa, Momo… you took quite a long time,” Fuji commented innocently when the second year returned to his seat. Personally, Fuji had _quite_ a good idea of whom Momoshiro had gotten. It was easy really. But the tensai figured he would let off on the teasing… just this once.

“Yup! I thought you’d never come back!” Eiji added.

Momo, on the other hand, kept quiet, managing to glare at the desk in front of him. Ever since he had stepped in, he had firmly made sure he would not look at _anybody_ in the room. The main reason was that he would be able to curb the urge to strangle someone (specifically a someone nicknamed ‘the Viper’), while the secondary reason was that he did not want a death wish for Christmas that came in the form of Inui’s special gift.

“Kaidou, off you go,” Ryuuzaki-sensei said. She caught a slight twitch from Momoshiro when she mentioned Kaidou’s name and smiled slightly. Now _that_ would explain why the rascal had taken such a long time.

 _“Fshuu…”_

* * *

Kaidou stared hard. He blinked twice.

He blinked again.

And again.

Nope, the words still weren’t changing. It said, in neat font: _Inui Sadaharu._

So, he was going to have to get something for his senior. The senior who had specially helped him train for the tournaments. He supposed it _was_ a good time to get something to thank Inui-sempai for all his help and time spent. Kaidou was just a little surprised to have drawn the older boy’s name. Especially when he had been contemplating if should thank Inui-sempai by getting him something for Christmas.

Looks like he had to do it after all.

“ _Fshuu…_ ” he hissed as he pocketed the slip of paper. Then he left the classroom.

* * *

Next up was Eiji, who bounced his way to and into the classroom. He was really keen to find out whom he would be playing Santa for. He always loved games anyway!

“Hoi hoi!” he greeted the two first year girls cheerfully. “Now, where do I draw the lot, nya?”

“Ah! Kikumaru-sempai!”

“Over here, sempai!”

Eiji went up to the box and stuck his hand inside. He felt around for a while before picking a slip of paper. “Ta da!” he proclaimed as he fished out the paper like he had just drawn the winning lottery ticket.

“Who is it, Kikumaru-sempai?” Tomoka asked excitedly.

Unfolding the paper, Eiji read the name and a huge smile graced his features. What luck! “Hoi! It’s Oishi!”

This was great! Perfect! He had wanted to thank his doubles partner all a long. Now, all he had to do was to _get_ the present that this game required and he could thank Oishi all the same! The smile on his face widened at the thought as he resisted the urge to do a couple of cartwheels. There wasn’t much space anyway.

Waving goodbye to the two girls, he left the classroom. As he continued his journey down the corridor to the meeting room, Eiji managed to control his expression to show one of his normal smiles. No point in spoiling his good mood by having to face the prospect of Inui Juice on Christmas, nya?

* * *

After a visibly happy Eiji’s turn, it was now Kawamura’s turn. Though perhaps one could say the luck had slightly run out for the rather shy Taka-san. Said boy was scratching his head rather nervously as he reread the name on the slip of paper he was holding.

“Kawamura-sempai? Who did you get?” Sakuno asked gently. “Kawamura-sempai?”

“Huh? Oh! Uh… Tezuka,” came the slightly startled reply.

“Aa…”

* * *

“Ah… Echizen, eh?” Inui muttered thoughtfully as he read the name on the slip of paper in his palm. _Interesting_ , he thought. There were so many possibilities of what would be a suitable gift for the first year regular…

“Ryoma-sama?” Tomoka whispered to Sakuno, dread filling her voice. Inui was famed for his strange but utterly toxic juices…

“Aa… That means…”

“NO! We have to stop Inui-sempai from thinking about Inui Juice!” Tomoka declared, jabbing her hands on her hips in determination. “Inui-sempai?”

“Yes?” Knowing the girl, there was a 99.9% chance that it was going to be about Echizen.

Tomoka cleared her throat before speaking in a tone as respectful as she could use, considering the nature of what she was about to say. “Inui-sempai, as the president of Ryoma-sama’s fan club, I have to ensure Ryoma-sama’s well being. So, if it is not too rude, can you please _not_ poison Ryoma-sama with your present?”

“Whatever made you think I would?” There was a 100% probability that in her next sentence his Inui Juice would be mentioned.

“Inui-sempai, you _know_ your special drinks aren’t… _easily ingestible_ by anybody…”

To that, Inui just raised an eyebrow. Well, he knew that there were people who could take it.

“Yeah, sempai… Um… Even Fuji-sempai had fainted once after drinking it… I heard it from Horio-kun.”

 _So that had gotten out too_ , Inui thought. However, he remained silent, trying to resist the urge to pull out his notebook and start scribbling away.

“Ne Sakuno, it’s time for drastic measures,” Tomoka muttered to her friend. Since reasoning strangely didn’t seem to be working with Inui-sempai, they would have to resort to other measures. She whispered her plan to her friend.

Watching the quiet exchange, Inui had the strange feeling that he wouldn’t like what the duo would come up with next. He was almost 100% sure about that…

…

Inui returned from the ‘lottery’ room mumbling under his breath and scribbling fervently in his notebook. However, unlike any other time, there was no sinisterly pleased glint from his glasses, signifying that he had found good data. Instead, Inui looked liked he had witnessed something utterly mortifying. Everyone decided that he _had_ for they all had more or less heard the somewhat muted screaming.

To that, Fuji noted that the screaming definitely did not come from Inui. The sounds were more high-pitched – a girl’s voice. _Ah… Inui must’ve gotten Echizen_ , he decided. _Who else would cause such an intense reaction from Tomoka-chan, ne?_

“Are you okay, Inui?” Oishi asked carefully.

“Aa…” Inui muttered an affirmative, still writing non-stop.

“Fuji. Your turn,” Ryuuzaki-sensei’s voice said.

“ _Hai._ ”

* * *

Fuji was greeted by an enthusiastic and – in his opinion – somewhat smug-looking Tomoka and a Sakuno who was flushed slightly in the cheeks. _Most probably from embarrassment,_ he decided. _Considering what her friend did just now…_ They probably had defied all the data Inui had in his book, if he had it in the first place.

Fuji didn’t doubt it. Inui was a thorough data collector.

He returned their greetings with his usual smile on his face and then went to draw the piece of paper. There weren’t many pieces left already. He wondered whom he would get.

“Ah… it’s Taka-san.”

* * *

Now, it was Oishi who was in the room. He decided, after looking at the name, he’d gotten someone relatively simple to deal with. Nobody in the tennis club didn’t know that Momo loved food. Almost any kind of food, save things like Inui Juice. However, other than Inui himself, only Fuji had been able to stomach and enjoy it. Oishi guessed that didn’t count. But at least the drinks were never lethal, though he personally thought they bordered on ‘fatalism’ much too often.

“So who did you get, Oishi-sempai?”

“Oh, Momoshiro.”

“Ah! So that means Tezuka-buchou will get F-” Tomoka started only to find her mouth hastily covered by Sakuno.

“Shh! _**Tomo-chan!**_ ” Sakuno exclaimed as she glanced at Oishi-sempai momentarily in worry, “You can’t let anybody know! It’s ‘ _Secret_ Santa’, remember?”

“ _Gomen!_ ” Tomoka apologized against Sakuno’s palm, although it came out pretty muted.

Oishi merely smiled before bidding them goodbye.

* * *

So at long last came the last regular member, as well as the Captain of the Seigaku tennis team, to draw his lot. Though really, it had already been decided since he _was_ the last person to draw.

Tezuka entered the designated classroom where he was greeted hastily by the two first years. He nodded curtly in acknowledgement, striding up to the box as he did so. He took out the last remaining slip of paper and unfolded it.

 _Fuji Syuusuke._

Fuji? This would be interesting. Tezuka knew that Fuji would get gifts for the whole team even if it weren’t required… This simple game became a challenge once he saw the name of their resident tennis prodigy staring back at him.

And Tezuka was one who reveled in facing them.

* * *

“Now that the drawing of lots is over, all of you know who you’re supposed to get a present for,” Ryuuzaki-sensei said once Tezuka was seated. “You have about two weeks to decide and buy the said present as well as a card, so as to let the recipient of the present find out who their Santa is. You can be straightforward or cryptic about it; it’s your choice. All gifts _have to be_ wrapped since it can be possible to decipher who the recipient for that particular gift is from by looking at it unwrapped. Also, since it is Christmas, feel free to get presents for the rest of the regulars too.”

“Now, given that you would want to spend Christmas with your family, the Christmas party will be held on Christmas Eve from 5pm to at least midnight in the school hall. All of you have to put your present for the Secret Santa in the clubhouse by 5.30pm. I’ll be asking someone to be there to make sure nobody tries to peek. At 11.45pm, the presents will be brought to the hall. I’ll call out your names and you’ll take your presents from me. Then at exactly midnight, you’ll open your present. Is that clear?”

“ _Hai_ , sensei,” came the chorused reply.

“Good. You’re dismissed now. Don’t forget your presents!”

The nine regulars milled out of the doorway, each reacting differently to what had been said. Eiji was talking a mile a minute to Fuji and Oishi, the duo patiently listening and injecting their input now and then. Momo had taken to asking Ryoma whether he wanted to eat burgers and not waiting for the first year to answer his question before dragging him off. Kaidou had stalked away almost immediately, while Inui was still busy writing in his notebook. One wondered whether he really _did_ have that much data to note down. Tezuka, as usual, was quiet.

Ryuuzaki-sensei watched her tennis team leave, a pleased smile settled on her features. Now it was left for her to imagine what sort of gifts would turn up on Christmas Eve. She gave a chuckle. Knowing her team, most of them would be rather unorthodox.

She knew she’d miss this batch dearly. It was so much fun having them.


	2. The Hunt

It was a Saturday the next day and there happened to be no classes. Surprisingly, all of the regulars were at home – busy. They were all trying to figure out what would be a good and suitable present for their recipients. Even Ryoma had turned down a game from his father, which had left Nanjirou feeling rather confused. Of course, the ex-Pro brushed it off and soon enough he could be seen buried to the nose in one of his many magazines.

To say that the process of selecting a suitable gift was not an easy task for the Seigaku Regulars was an understatement. It was downright difficult. Some of them were natural perfectionists while the others just wanted to give the best they could to their friends. All of them wanted their present to be special, even though the recipient might not be someone whom they got along well with. That, however, only applied to a certain black-haired, violet-eyed second year.

So after almost a full day of thinking up ideas for gifts, the majority of the regulars had some items in mind as gifts. The others then decided to go down to town the following morning to browse around for ideas. They still had time anyway.

* * *

On Sunday morning, after a hearty breakfast, Eiji left for town to the nearby shopping centers. After musing over it on Saturday and asking a little advice from his two elder sisters, Eiji had decided on a present for Oishi – a special album containing photos of them since Year 1, as well as some containing the other regulars. Now he was heading off to buy an empty photo album, as there was none at home, and also some wrapping paper.

Eiji hummed to himself happily as he alighted at the bus stop. Entering the shopping center, he located a shop from the directory that would most likely sell photo albums. Then he was off on the escalators, weaving expertly through the throng of people, to reach the third floor at the fastest time. There was a gift shop where he could buy wrapping paper, as well as a multi-purpose bookshop that he remembered sold photo albums too.

He quickly chose and bought a wrapping paper with the design of white teddy bears wearing Santa Claus hats, before exiting to find the other shop. Eiji looked carefully at the choices of albums available. There were many to choose from, but he wanted one that was white and not too flashy. Usually he wouldn’t be so picky, but this was a Christmas present for Oishi and he wanted to decorate the album cover himself.

Finally, he chose a plain white one, with light blue decorative print on the sides. In the center were the words, “Photo Album”, but Eiji figured he would use something to cover them up when he redecorated it.

After paying for the album, Eiji happily bounced out of the shop and down the mall’s walkway. He wasn’t really looking at where he was going and ended up crashing headlong into someone walking out of a bookstore. Both parties landed on their backsides in a rather undignified manner.

“Ow…” Eiji muttered as he rubbed his left arm. Luckily, none of the things he bought had fallen out. They were just a little jostled. He raised his gaze from his arm to look at the person he had bumped into.

And was met with a familiar green bandana. As well as a familiar hiss.

“Hoi! Kaidou!” he exclaimed in surprise, getting up to his feet quickly. “What are you doing here?’

“Ki… Kikumaru-sempai!” Kaidou answered, just as surprised to see his senior as his senior was to see him. Kaidou had not expected to bump into anyone – especially not literally – at the shopping mall. He quickly stood up before answering his senior’s question, “Um… I was buying something.”

“For the Secret Santa?”

Kaidou merely nodded as he eyes darted momentarily to eye the plastic bags Kikumaru-sempai was holding. He spied a roll of wrapping paper and something that looked like a thick and large white book… or perhaps a photo album? Perhaps Kikumaru-sempai was playing Santa for Fuji-sempai?

“See you next time then, Kaidou! Bye!” Eiji then said with a wave and he continued his way out.

“Aa… Bye, Sempai.”

As Eiji flounced away cheerfully, he wondered whom Kaidou got. His junior had walked out of a bookstore; therefore he must have bought a book. Eiji hadn’t gotten a peek at what kind of book Kaidou had bought, but he deduced that the book was probably for Tezuka, Fuji or Inui. Nobody else on the team besides them really liked to read. Oh well, he’d find out on December 24 himself. He now had to think of what to give to his other teammates.

There was no need to worry about that. Nya?

* * *

Ryoma decided that he had gotten a present suitable enough for his hyperactive, almost child-like senior. It had really been a spur of the moment thing. And it just happened to suit the situation too. He had been playing with Karupin in his room when something struck him. Hmm… was it Horio who mentioned it? Anyway, someone _had_ mentioned something about Kikumaru-sempai being like a cat with all his acrobatic movements during his tennis matches. So Ryoma decided to act a little out of character by getting the costume cat ears and a tail for his senior.

The main problem after the decision was where he could find the items.

In the end, his cousin had kindly provided him with names and directions to several shops that sold costumes. Now all he had to do was leave the house and buy the things he needed. And perhaps in the mean time decide what else he was going to get his other seniors, considering that he knew that at least Oishi-sempai and Fuji-sempai would definitely be getting something for the whole team. It wouldn’t be polite to be empty-handed.

Ryoma left his house right after lunch to head to the nearest available shop. Personally, Ryoma didn’t know what to think if he was sighted going into a costume shop. Especially if it was by some of his seniors. Fuji-sempai might, no he would, tease him to no end. And that was when Ryoma disregarded the fact that Fuji-sempai would probably find out what he was going to buy. If Fuji-sempai ever found out… Ryoma didn’t even want to _think_ about it. Kikumaru-sempai would probably pester him about it non-stop… and Momo-sempai would do the same. Ryoma mentally shuddered. Not good.

When he alighted from the bus, he prayed that none of the above mentioned seniors would appear. Those seniors plus Tezuka-buchou. Buchou wouldn’t tease him or anything, but Ryoma would not be able to live with it if the tennis captain saw him in such a shop. Frankly speaking, he wouldn’t be able to live with it if _anyone_ he knew saw him in that kind of shop. He probably _should’ve_ tried harder to persuade Nanako-san to shop in his place. But she had stood her ground firmly, stating that the giver should choose the presents carefully. Oh well. He’d stay as low-key as possible then.

Passing a few other shops, he finally was outside one of the specified costume shops. He pushed open the glass door, cringing slightly when a bell rang in the process. _So much for being low-key_ , he thought as he instinctively pulled his FILA cap lower to hide his face. In a matter of seconds, there was a female salesperson next to him.

“Hello! How may I help you, dear? Do you have a costume in mind?”

“I’m just taking a look,” Ryoma replied as politely as he could, whilst thinking his reply was rather stupid. _Who would saunter into a costume shop if they had nothing in mind?_

“Oh sure! I’ll be at the counter if you need any help.”

He nodded, before wandering deeper into the shop. He passed many arrays of clothes. Most of them were for cosplayers as the costumes came from various popular movies and cartoons. Well, he wasn’t interested in those. Where were those cat ears he was looking for? Then Ryoma spotted a display shelf where there were an assortment of masks and the likes. Perhaps that’s where he would get what he was looking for.

Indeed, after looking past the second shelf from the top, Ryoma found a few different colored cat ears and tails. Remembering the incident in which a bucket of white paint had fallen onto his senior and dyed his hair white, he rather cheekily decided to get the white colored pair of ears and tail. Oh yes, perhaps he should get some whiskers to complete the look…

After paying for the set of cat ears, tail and whiskers, Ryoma gladly and hurriedly left the costume shop. The shop owner was rather annoying, commenting that _he’d_ make a cute neko. There was _no way_ he’d wear any of that of his own accord though. _Hell no._ Nonetheless, Ryoma was more than relieved that nobody he knew was in the vicinity. However, he was proved wrong.

“Echizen? Is that you?”

Ryoma paused in his steps. That sounded like Oishi-sempai… Okay, at least it was _Oishi_ -sempai and not the others. He was also relatively far away from the costume shop. Good, he was more or less safe. Just had to try keeping the bag out of sight… if it was possible.

“Aa, Oishi-sempai,” he acknowledged as he turned to see his vice captain standing outside a shop selling chocolates and candy.

“Out buying presents?” Oishi ventured a guess as he saw the bag Ryoma was seemingly trying to keep out of his sight. The first year probably wanted to keep the contents a secret. Oishi thought he vaguely saw the logo of a costume shop he had passed by earlier.

“ _Hai._ ”

“Aa… me too. Well, I still have more things to get. See you later, Echizen,” Oishi said as he spared a quick glance at his watch. He still had to get gifts for the other regulars now that he had bought something for Momoshiro already. Luckily, he already had something in mind.

“Bye, sempai,” Ryoma replied as his senior turned to walk off in the opposite direction.

If Oishi-sempai had bought a present from a chocolate-selling shop – and a pretty expensive one at that – it probably meant that the present was for Momo-sempai, since he himself was already supposed to buy something for Kikumaru-sempai. Or it could be for Fuji-sempai… to get him something _normal_ to eat, Ryoma supposed. Oishi-sempai was also getting something for the rest of the regulars, like he had expected.

Which brought Ryoma to the sudden knowledge that he had no idea what to get for his other teammates.

Since he was already outside, Ryoma decided that he might as well browse around to get some inspiration. Then he wouldn’t need to come out to buy them another day too. It’d save him plenty of time.

* * *

“Well, well… What can I get for that _Mamushi_?” Momoshiro muttered under his breath as he cycled slowly down the streets, his eyes looking right and left while he was at it.

He had spent the whole of Saturday, save meal times, thinking of what to get for Kaidou. Damn. It was difficult. He had absolutely _**no**_ idea what the guy would like. Sheesh. Just his luck for drawing Kaidou’s name from the box. Anyone else would be much easier.

Actually, Momo was quite surprised that he was making the effort to find something for Kaidou. Prior to this, he had once again spent the better half of his Sunday morning _and_ part of the afternoon racking his brain for ideas. He was tempted to call An to brainstorm ideas with her, since girls were usually more apt at these things. But he didn’t.

Finally he had decided to just cycle down to town and see if any of the shops he would pass by would give him any form of inspiration. If not, when he reached town, he could then browse around in the shopping centers. So far, his trip down town was not too successful. Nothing had caught his eye nor had he gained any new ideas. But Momo was determined _not_ to give up. The Seigaku tennis team was reputed for their determination (some even said it was pure stubbornness) to win on court, and this trait happened to apply off court too.

About ten minutes later, Momoshiro came across a street stall selling trinkets and related accessories. He gave it a glance as he passed it and then halted his bicycle almost immediately. Wait a minute… Was it really what he saw? Momo quickly dismounted from his bicycle and secured it to a nearby railing. He then walked back to the stall to look at the array of trinkets on sale.

Yes, no doubt about it. His eyes had not deceived him.

In the midst of the other jewelry, there was a black leather collar with a large stud in the design of a snake coiling round a pole. It’d fit well with Kaidou’s image. And serve as an indirect jibe at him.

 **Brilliant!**

Momo was extremely pleased with himself. He hadn’t really expected to be able to get something from today’s trip round town. He thought he’d have to make several more trips before he would get inspiration. Looks like he was pretty lucky after all. Momo purchased the collar and whistled merrily as he walked to where he had chained his bicycle. His eyes lit up in surprise as he saw one of his seniors walking towards him. But it appeared that the older boy had not noticed him yet.

“Yo! Taka-san! Fancy meeting you here!” Momo called and waved to catch the other boy’s attention.

“Ah? Momo, it’s you!” Kawamura said, slightly surprised to see the teen.

“Buying gifts?” Momo inquired.

“Yeah. Just bought something for the Secret Santa game.”

“Ooh! What is it? Can you tell me?”

“Momo, you know it’s a-”

“I was just joking, sempai! _Just joking!_ ” Momo said with a teasing grin. “I’m going back home now! See you around!”

“See you around.” Kawamura shook his head as he watched Momoshiro mount his bicycle and cycle away.

He had taken a quick break from helping out at his father’s shop to get the Secret Santa gift for Tezuka. It had taken him quite some time to figure out a good present for the captain. Other than tennis, Tezuka did not seem to have much interest in anything else. Until Kawamura vaguely remembered somebody mentioning that Tezuka liked camping and mountain climbing. So, he had bought a guidebook that introduced the world’s famous camping grounds.

Now, he had to hurry back to the sushi shop. There was bound to be too many customers for his father to handle alone.

* * *

Inui was glad that he had not limited his data collection to only his teammates’ skills in tennis. The other information he had gathered on his teammates was proving useful in this game of Secret Santa. And the game had also opened his eyes on several things concerning females… Ahem. Anyway, after consulting his data on Echizen, he had decided on what to get for the youngest regular.

And it was perfectly safe too, in case anyone was worried.

So now Inui was at the shopping mall. Specifically in a shop that sold bath salts. He knew from his data that Echizen liked to try out different bath salts. That was probably the only other thing he was interested in, save tennis… and his cat, Karupin.

After looking through the selection of scented bathing salts, Inui did a quick mental calculation of the prices in relation to the net weight of the bathing salts. Hmm… individual bottles of bathing salts were roughly 65% more expensive than when buying a set of four different kinds of scented bath salts. Thus he’d be getting more worth for money if he bought the set of four… and it was within his designated budget range too. Good.

He also noted that the most popular kind of bath salts were the lavender-scented ones. Almost all the sets of bathing salts contained a bottle of lavender-scented ones. _Ii data…_ he thought, making a mental note to write it down when he reached home. It would be extremely weird if he suddenly took out his notebook and started writing non-stop in the middle of the shop. Following that, Inui selected a set of four different kinds of bathing salts and paid for them.

Exiting the shop, Inui passed a couple of more shops when he suddenly noticed a familiar figure in a shop to his right. Fuji was inside a shop selling various kinds of ornamental weaponry, ranging from knives to antique guns. Hmm…

“Ii data,” he muttered a loud this time, his curiosity aroused as he watched the honey-haired boy examine a transparent casing that housed a dagger.

This would definitely make for good data. Forgetting how strange it would seem, as well as the previous mental note, Inui whipped out his notebook and flipped it open to a blank page. He quickly scribbled down the date as well as a header.

Right, it was time to enter the shop. Without Fuji’s knowledge that he was there.

Inui crept stealthily into the shop, something he was rather apt with, considering the amount of data he had gathered. Of course, when it came to Fuji, he never always had all the data he wanted on the young man. Though most of the time, it concerned only tennis. Inui positioned himself behind a shelf and started to write.

Unknown to Inui however, Fuji had already spotted him. There was one good thing with his eyes almost never fully open: Nobody knew where exactly he was looking. He had already spotted Inui when he was still outside the shop, which was purely by chance. Fuji had then seen the bespectacled boy pull out his notebook and knew that Inui too had seen him.

Well, he’d let Inui collect all the ‘data’ he could derive from someone choosing a dagger. And then point out to Inui that he had all along known he was hiding behind the shelf. That’d startle him for sure.

So, Fuji returned his full attention to the task of choosing an ornamental dagger for Taka-san. He had sifted through quite a number of daggers and knives already, but none really seemed fitting for the intentions he had for the dagger. Fuji was planning to engrave something on the blade of the dagger. But so far, none of the daggers fit the bill.

Fifteen minutes later, after sieving through a few dozen daggers and hearing the scratching sound of pencil on paper grow louder by the minute, Fuji had finally found something to his satisfaction.

As he admired the dagger, he enquired in his usual soft-spoken tone, “Hello, Inui. Are you having a nice time examining the shelf?”

There was a sudden stop in the scratching noises and Fuji’s smile turned slightly sadistic.

“So you noticed, eh Fuji?” came Inui’s voice as the tall boy stepped out from where he was previously hiding.

“Aa. I noticed you when you were outside the shop,” Fuji replied, turning to smile at his friend. “It was a coincidence actually.” He was willing to bet that Inui didn’t believe his last statement.

Inui’s eyebrows rose.

Fuji had once again defied his predictions.

* * *

Tezuka was fairly certain that he had sorted out what he would be getting for all his team members. Fuji included. He merely had to place an order for eight custom-made glass paperweights from a glassware shop his mother often frequented. The quality of the paperweights was very good and the price for all eight was reasonable and within his spending range. All he had to do now was to pick up the phone to call up the shop and subsequently, place his order. However, this was the least pressing matter for the moment.

Apart from the paperweights, which he was going to give to all the regulars, there was _something else_ he had planned to surprise Fuji with. He was sure that Fuji would like that particular surprise very much. However, the surprise was going to be rather tricky to plan it right. But he’d be damned if he didn’t succeed. Still, he would require some help and coordination from Ryuuzaki-sensei for everything to go smoothly.

Picking up the phone, Tezuka dialed his coach’s house number. Three rings later, the call was answered. “ _Moshi moshi_ , may I speak to Ryuuzaki-sensei please?”

 _“Ah Tezuka-sempai. Please wait a minute.”_

Tezuka then distinctly heard the voice of Ryuuzaki Sakuno calling for her grandma. A moment later, his coach was on the phone. _“Hello Tezuka. Is there anything I can do for you?”_

“Sensei, I have a special request for the Secret Santa game. With regards to my ‘present’… part of it will only arrive at midnight. Is that okay with you?”

“I suppose you have your reasons. It’s fine then. Anything else?”

“Ah yes, sensei. As part of the… _requirement_ for the ‘present’, may I enquire the…”

When Tezuka finally hung up the phone after making another call, he had the feeling that the special surprise was going to come out perfectly well.


	3. The Unveiling

The two weeks leading up to the Christmas Eve party was over rather quickly. During that time, all the regulars had managed to find presents for not only their Secret Santa recipient, but also for the rest of the team members. A good deal of time was spent over the two weeks in making the presents perfect. But everybody was happy and satisfied with the outcome. Surprisingly, keeping the identity of whom they were playing Santa for was relatively easy.

On the evening of the party, each of the nine Seigaku Regulars made their way separately to the clubhouse to deposit their Secret Santa presents. They were met with the Ichinen Trio of Horio, Kachiro and Katsuo who were the ones in charge of handling and ‘safe-guarding’ the presents for the time being.

When the regulars entered the school hall, they were greeted with a wondrous sight. The plain school hall had been totally redecorated. There were four middle-sized Christmas trees at the corners of the hall and all four seemed to be decked out completely with fluffy snow. Clear plastic icicles hung from the doorways and adorned the stage whilst the floor was covered with a whitish mist produced by dry ice.

In the middle of the hall was a long table covered by a pale blue cloth. On it laid the food for the party in buffet style. There were several round tables set up behind the buffet table where the regulars, as well as the other tennis club members (inclusive of the female team), could sit and enjoy their meal. In front of the buffet table was a place specially cordoned to be a dance floor. Everything was laid out in pale blue hues and pure white, making it look like heaven had descended to earth.

After two short speeches by the principal and Ryuuzaki-sensei, the party began in the midst of chatter, songs and a mad rush for food (Momo was leading the pack – to nobody’s surprise – and he had dragged Ryoma along too). Almost all who were present – student and coach alike – mingled together, enjoying the atmosphere of their transformed school hall and just letting his or her hair down.

The dance floor opened up and dance tunes were blasting out from the speakers, one after another. Oishi and Fuji had good-naturedly tried to get Tezuka down to the dance floor. However, they were unsuccessful even after fifteen tries using many different approaches. Inui could be seen noting down the whole process from a table away, a happy glint coming from his glasses.

A mock dancing contest arose soon enough and the better dancers were grooving to the beat, trying to out do each other. Even Ryuuzaki-sensei came down to the dance floor to do her stuff. That was met with loud cheers and catcalling from the tennis club members. The final showdown for the dancing competition was between (surprisingly) Kaidou and Eiji. It appeared that Kaidou had a hidden talent for hip-hop and break dancing too. Fuji was seen at the edge of the dance floor, snapping pictures of the duo as they tried to out do each other. The eventual winner turned out to be Eiji, dazzling everyone with his gravity-defying acrobatic dance movements. There were no prizes to be given, but everyone had enjoyed himself or herself thoroughly and that was probably the best prize!

Then there was a surprise birthday cake especially for Ryoma, his birthday conveniently landing on Christmas Eve itself. Sakuno had bashfully wheeled the cake out and wished him a soft ‘Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas’ before standing off to one side to watch the sudden crowd of people around Ryoma and the cake. Everyone then sang the birthday song for their first year tennis prodigy and then urged him to hurry up and cut the cake. It was an extremely large cake considering the amount of people present. But Ryoma managed the task of cutting the cake up. He even saved an extra large slice for Momo, who attacked it with great gusto after thanking him for it most enthusiastically. Fuji was there, silently taking many candid shots.

As always, Time sped by when everyone was having so much fun. It was 10.30pm and the time the rest of the tennis club members were to leave. The white mist that hovered above the floor was already non-existent. By 11pm, the last of the tennis club members had gone, with the exception of Horio, who had volunteered to bring up the Secret Santa presents, as well as Sakuno, who was waiting for her grandmother. Since there was still 45 minutes before the Secret Santa presents were to be brought to the hall, Ryuuzaki-sensei announced that if they had other presents to give out, this would be the time to do so.

From the almost frantic scramble to find the bags, Ryuuzaki-sensei deduced that everyone had brought something for everyone else. The old lady smiled and announced whilst the boys were still bringing out their gifts, “Since everyone seems to have presents to give out, you’ll all take turns to do so. How about we start with Tezuka and work down the ladder?”

And thus, the ‘gift exchanging session’ was officially open.

* * *

The eight other regulars had a pleasant surprise when they received their presents from their team captain. Each had unwrapped the paper to find a beautiful glass paperweight, which differed in design for everyone. Then their names were also plated on the base of the paperweight.

Oishi’s one had three blue-tinted crescent moons placed one behind another, so that a portion of each moon was shown. It signified his signature move, the Moon Volley.

Inui’s one showed an open notebook with a glass of frothing white drink in front of it. On the glass of the drink, was a black toxic label. There was no doubt what at Tezuka was hinting at with this paperweight. Everyone had a good laugh when they saw it. Who knew Tezuka actually _had_ a sense of humor?

Kawamura’s had a sushi roll, which was backed by orange-tinted flames. The flames were to indicate the “Burning” mode he would go into when holding a tennis racket, or somewhat related items – like baseball bats.

Next up was Eiji’s. His showed a person that actually looked much like Eiji himself (what with the red-tinted hair and a white bandage on the right-side of the figure’s face) doing a one armed handstand whilst clutching a tennis racket. After taking a look at it, Eiji promptly imitated the figure of the paperweight, inducing merry laughter from many.

Kaidou’s had an upright boomerang, in which a green-tinted snake was coiled around it. It was no ordinary snake too; it seemed that Tezuka had specified for it to be a viper to play on Kaidou’s nickname. Momo had an immensely wonderful time ribbing Kaidou about it afterwards, which earned irritated hisses from Kaidou.

Momoshiro’s paperweight was in the shape of… a cheeseburger. A _large_ cheeseburger, with all the colors you would find on a real one. The violet-eyed boy took at look at it and bemoaned the fact that it wasn’t a real burger for it looked tasty enough for him to eat. This, of course, prompted a round of laughter at Momo’s expense as well as Kaidou picking on Momo about it.

Then came Ryoma’s. Their youngest regular received a paperweight with a tennis ball that wore a small crown towards the side. On the tennis ball, there were the words “Prince of Tennis” inscribed. Ryoma had instinctively pulled his cap down slightly before mumbling a ‘thank you’ to Tezuka. This led to Eiji commenting that O-chibi-chan is so _kawaii_ when he wants to be.

Lastly was Fuji’s gift. His paperweight was of a swallow, with its wings spread as if preparing to fly from the branch it was perched on. The most obvious significance was one of Fuji’s Triple Counters – the Tsubame Gaeshi or Swallow Return. Yet it could also mean to let his potential take flight for the swallow was preparing to fly instead of making a landing.

Following Tezuka’s presents was Oishi’s. True to Oishi’s practical nature, he had bought the regulars grip tape. But it was not the normal kind of grip tape. Somehow, Oishi had managed to find _Christmas-themed_ grip tape on sale and decided it would make festive fun amongst the team. Each of the regulars had different ones and Oishi had also bought one for himself. Perhaps one day, they could all use the grip tape and have play against each other. The games would be literally colorful with the different colored grip tape.

Then it was Fuji’s gift for the regulars. The tensai – in probably more ways than one – had designed T-Shirts for the whole team. On the front of the white T-Shirt was a picture of the Seigaku Regulars during their camping trip earlier in the year. Diagonally across the bottom right corner of the picture was “Seigaku” written in Fuji’s flowing handwriting. The back of the T Shirt had, in smaller font, the words “Seishun Gakuen Tennis Team”. And below that line of words, was in even smaller font, the words: “Don’t mess with us.” Upon receiving the gifts, there was a chorus of thanks directed towards Fuji, who smiled a genuine smile in return.

“Hey, why don’t we wear them now?” Momo suggested.

Forgetting that there were _females_ present, almost all the regulars started to remove their original tops. Their shirts were halfway off when a high-pitched “eep!” and a loud, somewhat embarrassed cough stopped their movements. A furiously blushing Sakuno was running towards the doorways and had disappeared out of the hall in record time; her grandmother was following after her but much more slowly.

There were sheepish smiles amongst the regulars, for only Tezuka, Fuji, Oishi and Inui were fully clothed. All four were looking at the rest of their teammates, with relatively amused expressions on their face. Yes, Tezuka included, though his expression was gone almost instantly when the others looked his way.

“ _Nya!_ Next time, tell us that Ryuuzaki-sensei and Sakuno-chan are present!” Eiji complained to the foursome.

“Saa… I thought it’d be interesting to see whether you’d find out,” Fuji replied with a disconcerting smile. “And are you sure you want a next time, Eiji?”

“ **FUJI!** _Nyaa!_ ”

* * *

When all the regulars had changed into the T-Shirts, they sent Horio to look for Ryuuzaki-sensei and Sakuno. The boy returned with the two females five minutes later. Sakuno still had a tinge of pink on her cheeks. The regulars hurriedly apologized to their coach and her granddaughter for the previous, um… _indecent_ display.

After everyone had gotten over the awkward moment, they returned to the giving out of presents. Now, it was Inui’s turn. Frankly speaking, most of them were apprehensive of what their data analyst was going to hand them. When they only saw a stack of papers in Inui’s hands, they were relieved but still they had not let their guard down. For all his preference for data, Inui could be one extraordinarily unpredictable person. Then the said teen gave each regular a piece of decorated paper and whipped out his notebook to jot down the response.

Several seconds later, there were indignant cries of, “INUI!” and “INUI-SEMPAI!”

It _was_ a good thing that Inui had not given them some strange drink, but what they received wasn’t that much better. On the paper was a list of ingredients and a recipe of how to make a special kind of juice, unique to each player. Apparently this was the next best thing to Inui Juice for a Christmas present in Inui’s perspective. Other than Fuji, who was reading the instructions, everyone else had mentally vowed never to try what Inui recommended for them. They had had enough experience on Inui’s _interestingly **deadly**_ juices.

However, their next present brightened up the mood considerably. Kawamura had given all of them food coupons to his father’s sushi shop. Furthermore, it was customized so that they would get extra of their most favorite sushi when they came to eat.

Next, it was Eiji’s turn. His was a surprise to all members of the team for the energetic redhead had never been known for doing things that needed utmost patience and carefulness. Thus, his presents of personally decorated, wooden photo frames came as a pleasant surprise to his teammates. Each of the photo frames were decorated differently and it could be clearly seen whose frame it was via the decorations. Eiji had a faint blush when he admitted that he had really spent time to decorate them himself.

Kaidou’s present for the regulars were an assortment of his mother’s homemade pastries. His mother was rather well known for being an excellent cook as he always had a scrumptious spread in his lunch box. The pastries had been evenly distributed in eight boxes so the regulars could take them home to enjoy with their families. However, nobody realized that Inui’s box happened to contain a little more of the pastries than any one else’s. Well, nobody besides Inui himself that is. Said boy made no move to comment, but gave Kaidou a discreet nod and smile.

Momoshiro’s presents were – not too surprisingly – food, in the form of assorted chocolates, toffee and sweets. Fuji innocently wondered how Momo had prevented himself from devouring all of them before the end of the day he had bought them. Momo had then scowled at his senior and insisted that he _could_ abstain from the candies. Inui made the protest lest effective by stating that there was a 99.5% probability that Momo had more than once been unsuccessful in totally keeping his hands of the treats.

Lastly came Ryoma’s presents. Which turned out to wristbands. The wristbands, however, were in the colors his respective seniors liked and had the names of his seniors embroidered on it. Ryoma admitted, however, that it was his cousin who did the embroidery. He left out the part that he had to beg Nanako-san though. Tezuka’s was dual toned, with dark blue and dark green. Oishi’s was white and sky blue. Fuji’s was sapphire blue with a beige stripe at the side. Inui’s was totally black, while Kawamura’s was light blue. Eiji’s was a deep red color (like his hair) with a blue stripe to complement it. Kaidou’s was blue with a green stripe whereas Momoshiro’s was dual toned too, with dark purple and red.

Glancing at her watch, Ryuuzaki-sensei realized that it was 11.42pm already. Time certainly sped by when you were having fun. She told Horio to go down to the clubhouse and bring the presents up. The first year immediately obeyed and disappeared from the hall.

At exactly 11.45pm, Horio returned to the hall, lugging a huge bag. He appeared to be panting quite heavily too. “Here, sensei!” he said as he handed over the bag to Ryuuzaki-sensei almost gratefully.

“Thank you, Horio,” Ryuuzaki-sensei said with a nod to the first year. Then to the regulars she announced, “Alright everyone! It’s time for the Secret Santa presents to be given out. Would you all sit down?”

There was a sudden silence before the regulars made their way to the nearest chairs and settled down. Despite some calm expressions, everyone was undoubtedly interested to see what the results of the game would be.

“Okay. Remember, all of you can only open your presents when it’s midnight. Nor are you allowed to look at the card yet. Come get your presents when I call your name.”

“Kawamura.”

“Kaidou.”

“Ryoma.”

“Inui.”

“Momoshiro.”

“Oishi.”

“Eiji.”

“Tezuka.”

“Fuji… There has been a special request for your present. It’ll only arrive at midnight. So until then, you’ll have to wait.”

“Aa. I wonder what it can be,” Fuji said contemplatively. This was interesting. A gift that would only arrive at midnight…

The distribution of presents took about two minutes (“Two minutes and twenty five seconds, to be exact,” muttered Inui), there for there was still quite some time left before it would be twelve midnight. This left most of the regulars, especially Eiji and Momo, very restless. They were itching to find out what their present would be and who was their ‘Santa’. However, with Ryuuzaki-sensei’s sharp eye, they could not try to peak.

After an agonizing twelve minutes, it was finally 11.59pm. Then, the regulars began their countdown to midnight.

“Sixty…”

…

“Thirty…”

…

“Ten…”

…

“Five…”

“Four…”

“Three…”

“Two…”

“ **ONE!** ”

There was a loud chorus of “Merry Christmas” before everyone started to unwrap his presents carefully. Hence, other than two pairs of eyes, nobody else noticed that the hall’s door had been pushed open and someone had walked in.

There was a concentrated silence for a minute as all the regulars who had presents were focused on the their task of figuring out what their present was and who was their Santa. Fuji was just watching the group. When all the presents were finally open, the silence was prolonged for a moment more. It turned out that Oishi was the first one to break it by simply walking over to Eiji and thanking him for the photo album.

Admittedly, Oishi was surprised about his present. Eiji must have grown a patient streak overnight or something to be able to finish something as meticulous as this photo album. All the decorations in there were all so… so _Eiji_. It definitely meant that the redhead was the one who decorated and organized the album. It touched Oishi that his partner took the effort to compile all the pictures. Oishi didn’t even know Eiji had them.

“So, what did you get then, Eiji?” he asked.

“Hoi! These!” replied Eiji, sounding just as cheerful though a little surprised at the same time. He pushed the box into Oishi’s hand and awaited the green-eyed boy’s reaction.

Said boy took a look at the contents of the box and started to splutter in shock. Well, he’d be damned. He had never expected this. Someone had gotten Eiji a set of white cat ears with a tail and whiskers to boot. “W-Who gave this to you?” he asked.

“Eh? It was O-chibi. Surprising, nya?”

“Very,” Oishi agreed, suddenly remembering his meeting with Ryoma not too long ago. _So Echizen has a cheeky streak after all_ , he thought with a mental smirk.

When Oishi turned back to look at Eiji, he very nearly dropped the photo album and the box he was holding. In an amazingly short amount of time, Eiji had swiped the costume and had put them on. Oishi blinked. Eji was often described as cute… Now, he looked simply _adorable_ in the cat outfit.

“Hoi, Oishi! Let’s go say thanks to O-chibi!” Eiji said as he bounced off his seat and made his way, quietly for once, to where Ryoma was. Besides Oishi and Fuji, nobody noticed Eiji. He was almost like a cat in both actions and looks, if Eiji didn’t say so himself.

Therefore, Ryoma was caught completely off guard when his senior latched onto him in an almost bone-crushing hug from behind _and_ with a feline purr to boot. The startled boy turned his head slightly and was met with a cheekily smiling face, red hair and a familiar pair of cat ears…

“Ki-Kikumaru-sempai?”

“O-chibi! Thanks for your present! Nya!” Eiji said as a flash came from a certain camera. “Saa… what did you get then?”

“Eh? Oh, this,” Ryoma said, as he showed his seniors the set of bathing salts. “Inui-sempai gave them to me,” he added.

At that moment, Momoshiro came over and joined Eiji in hugging Ryoma. Which caused the younger boy to gasp as he tried to get more air into his lungs. Luckily Oishi had hurriedly pulled both of them off the small boy, thus Ryoma’s birthday remained still just that.

“What did you get Echizen?” Momo asked as he thumped the boy on his back, almost making the smaller boy double over and fall. Then turning to his other senior, he said, “Oh yes! Oishi-sempai! Thanks for the chocolates! They taste really great!”

“You’ve eaten them already?” Oishi asked, a little surprised.

Sure, he knew about Momo’s appetite. He had heard Eiji complain about it more than once when Momo and Echizen tricked the redhead into treating them to burgers. But still, after all that food during the buffet… All he could say now was that Momoshiro was definitely one of a kind.

“Yeah! Some of them only, though. I’m planning to make these last!” Momo replied with a wink and then turned around… to find his favorite junior gone.

A quick look around alerted him that Ryoma was talking to Inui-sempai. Immediately, Momo started towards the same direction and so did Oishi, Eiji and Fuji.

The foursome arrived in time to hear Ryoma mutter, “So that’s how you found out…”

“So you got Echizen those bath salts, Inui?” Fuji asked, although he had actually found out quite some time ago. Like about the time he spotted Inui outside the ornament shop. “I’m surprised you didn’t get something more… _interesting_.” Fuji felt his sadistic side kick in and he had a feeling it was going to go into overdrive quite soon.

“Ah… I decided not to in the end…” There was a 98.5% probability that Fuji would press on. It was a 100% that Fuji was in ‘Sadist’ mode.

“ _Aa… Sou ka_ ,” the tennis prodigy replied in a thoughtful voice. Then his eyes opened just a fraction as he added almost maliciously, “Oh well. And here I was thinking that perhaps it had something to do with To-”

“Kaidou!” Inui abruptly called as he spied the boy walking towards his general direction. This time he had no time to contemplate logically worming his way out of the situation. He had to react instantaneously.

“Yes, sempai?” Kaidou asked.

“Ah, thank you for the novel.”

“ _Fshuu…_ ” Kaidou hissed, a little embarrassed but he nodded nonetheless.

It was then when Inui noticed something around his kouhai’s neck. Adjusting his glasses to take a better look, he was surprised to that it was a black leather collar with a stud in the shape of a snake coiling round a pole. He was about to ask where Kaidou where he had gotten it, snapped his mouth shut at the last moment to watch an exchange between the said boy and Momoshiro.

“Momoshiro.”

“Ah Kaidou? Oh. So you’re wearing it.”

“Hn. Thanks.”

“No problem.”

And there lay Inui’s answer to his unasked question. The notebook was out before you could even blink. “ _Ii data…_ ”

“Ooh! Nice collar there, Kaidou!” Eiji exclaimed as he went to take a closer look.

And he very nearly gave Kaidou the shock of his life when he saw his senior in a cat costume. If Kaidou were permitted to comment, he would say that his bouncy senior pulled off the cute kitty look pretty well.

After Eiji had finished his ‘examination’ of Momo’s present to Kaidou, he suggested that they all go find out what Tezuka had gotten and to see whom his Santa was. So the group trouped over to where Tezuka was sitting next to Kawamura. They noticed, as they got closer to their captain, that he was flipping through a book.

It turned out that it was a guide to the best camping locations all over the world. It even offered information on what to expect and what were the best times to go camping in a particular area. It was easy to say that Tezuka was pleased with this gift. The attention was then turned to Kawamura, who they found out was the one who gave Tezuka the book.

“So Taka-san, what’s your present?” Oishi asked.

“Oh? Um, this,” Kawamura replied and he held out a rectangular casing for them to see.

In it was an ornamental dagger. One from the shop Inui had seen Fuji in, not that Inui or Fuji had told anyone about there meeting. Furthermore, there was an engraving on the metal blade. It showed a person in a karate pose, surrounded by a halo that looked much like fire.

“Fuji gave this to me,” he added, before suddenly realizing something, “Oh no! I haven’t thanked him yet!” He started looking around for the tensai.

“Fuji!” Oishi called loudly to help Kawamura after he noticed that the brunet was no longer amongst their group.

But he received no answer…


	4. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In general, I think this fanfic is considered friendship but I guess shippers can see it as some form of subtle yaoi/shounen-ai. This last chapter, I think probably has the most obvious of hints due to the fact that it revolves around my OTP. ^^"

“Eh? Fujiko-chan!” Eiji called when he realized that Fuji was not answering Oishi. That was rather strange for Fuji. “Saa, where could he have gone to…? Hoi! There he is!”

Eiji then pointed in the general direction of a table furthest from where the other regulars were. And true enough; their missing friend was standing there with his back facing them. The group of regulars, minus Tezuka, made their way towards Fuji, curious to know why he had not answered their calls.

“Hoi, Fuji! Why didn’t you answer us? Nya? Fuji? _Fuji?_ ”

Eiji had clapped his hands on Fuji’s back when he reached the boy. But the action had not prompted a reply of any sort from his friend. So in slight worry, he had shaken his friend’s shoulders.

Twice.

But there was still no reply.

“Hey, Fuji. Are you okay?” Oishi asked, his forehead starting to crease in worry due to his friend’s unresponsiveness.

“Fuji-sempai… Is anything wrong?” Momo asked too.

Neither of them received any form of reply from the motionlessly standing boy. It was as if Fuji had been frozen there and couldn’t answer them. Or he had gone into a deep trance that they couldn’t break. Either way, it was unnerving the group. Well, besides Inui who, as usual, was noting everything down, although one would notice that he did not look _that_ into his task when compared to any other time.

“Ne Momo-sempai, look over there,” Ryoma suddenly said as he tapped his senior on the arm. His golden eyes were focused on a figure standing near the doorway. It was a vaguely familiar figure to him…

“Huh? What?” Momo asked, but did as he was told. His violet eyes widened in surprise. “Hey, isn’t that…?”

That question, though directed not to anyone else but Ryoma, was the one that finally induced an almost disbelieving response out of Fuji:

“Yuuta… Is… is it _really_ you?”

* * *

Fuji Syuusuke _knew_ that he had perfect eyesight. He knew that even with his eyes more than half-closed he could see everything around him clearly. Sometimes he saw things that even people with their eyes always wide open could not see. He knew that, he was _**100%**_ sure about it, that his eyes were currently fully open. _Wide_ open. It was the widest he had ever opened his eyes in public, which meant that his sight was not impaired by anything at all.

He was also positive that there was no spiked punch or any such alcoholic drink on the buffet table from earlier. That meant he was certainly still very much sober. But was it possible that, despite such circumstances, he was hallucinating?

Fuji knew he could ask Inui about it, but his body firmly refused to comply. Instead, he was rooted to the floor; sapphire orbs staring fixedly at the familiar figure of his younger brother standing near the hall’s doorway.

 _Yuuta is here? Is this real?_

“Hello, aniki,” Yuuta’s voice traveled into his ears.

That seemed to do the trick for Fuji. His feet regained their ability to move, he was aware that the regulars were all gathered behind him, his eyes drew back to their seemingly closed position and most of all, he was conscious of the somewhat awkward but certainly genuine smile on his brother’s face. Now, to say that Fuji was happy at his brother’s appearance was a severe understatement. He was _ecstatic_ and very pleasantly surprised. Fuji then moved forwards until he was of a reasonable distance from Yuuta. He vaguely thought he heard Oishi direct the others not to follow him.

“Yuuta, why are you here? When did you arrive?” Fuji asked. “I thought… I thought you would be returning to St. Rudolph after dinner… Nee-san told me so…”

He had never expected to see his younger brother here in Seigaku, especially at such a time and on such a special occasion too. Of course, it also hadn’t occurred to him that his elder sister could have lied to him.

“I _was_ going to return to St. Rudolph – there was going to be a countdown to Christmas too – but I changed my mind. Okaa-san and Nee-san asked me to bring these for you and your teammates. There’s raspberry pie and apple crumble. Oh and I arrived at midnight, or at least I entered the hall at midnight,” Yuuta replied carefully as he held up a bag that was containing the above-mentioned food. He was going to let his brother figure out why he was really here by himself.

“Midnight?” Fuji repeated, eyebrows furrowing. Now why did that ring a bell in his mind?

 _Midnight… Midnight…_ Fuji’s eyes snapped open suddenly as one thought hit him: _My present!_ That was it, wasn’t it? Having Yuuta to come and surprise him was his Christmas present from… from _whom_?

“You were asked to come here, right?” he asked, just to be sure.

“Well… yeah. But I can’t tell you whom.” _That’s fast_ , Yuuta thought. But his brother wasn’t called a _tensai_ for nothing.

“Aa,” Fuji replied absently as he turned around to look at his teammates.

He could rule out Oishi, Eiji, Ryoma and Inui. Probably Kaidou too, if he remembered it correctly. For it was at about that time when he realized there was a person standing near the doorway and that person was his otouto. Everything after that was pretty much a blur. He now let his eyes roam the faces of his teammates. Most of them seemed surprised to see Yuuta. The only one not showing any form of reaction was…

“Tezuka,” Fuji whispered as the realization hit home.

Turning to gesture for Yuuta to come further inside, Fuji then set off – almost running – to cover the distance to where Tezuka was sitting, flipping through the book Kawamura gave him. As Fuji closed the gap, he noted that Tezuka’s eyes were roaming the pages, but they seemed to be going at a speed much too fast for anything to be absorbed by his brain. It seemed that Tezuka was actually _nervous_. Fuji knew that their team captain was definitely human, but sometimes, it made one wonder – just ever so slightly – that maybe he was always that sure of himself.

But why would Tezuka be nervous about this? Fuji could not fathom the _slightest_ reason why his captain would. Was Tezuka afraid that he wouldn’t like it? That was so blatantly illogical and quite laughable. Quoting something Inui might say, he would be 110% happier than usual if Yuuta came to visit him on a special occasion. But it didn’t matter. Fuji would thank Tezuka for arranging for his younger brother’s surprise visit. This would be one Christmas Fuji would _never_ forget.

As Fuji brushed past the rest of the regulars with Yuuta following slowly behind, Inui was the first to come to the conclusion that Fuji’s younger brother’s appearance was Fuji’s Christmas present. Oishi was the next to realize this, whilst the rest of the regulars took about a minute longer to collectively understand the situation. Unanimously, the seven of them followed after the Fuji brothers, wanting to hear more.

“Tezuka?”

The bespectacled teen looked up almost too quickly (perhaps he could even say it was rather impatiently) when his name was called by the soft, lilting voice of one Fuji Syuusuke. He did not fail to notice that Fuji’s eyes were open and that Yuuta plus the rest of the regulars were standing almost right behind the brunet. However, Tezuka ignored everyone else and merely gazed at Fuji, silently asking him to continue speaking.

Fuji smiled.

A true smile with his sapphire blue eyes open, shining with joy and gratitude.

The genuine smile – with eyes clearly open no less – caught Tezuka entirely off guard. He hadn’t expected such a gesture… it meant a lot more than words could effectively express. He had _never_ seen Fuji smile like that before, and part of his mind whispered to him that nobody else had to have seen such an expression on Fuji before. His blue eyes were especially dazzling in a way not even Kikumaru’s could match. Tezuka realized that amid the heaven-like décor of the hall, with that smile of his, Fuji’s appearance was really one of an angel.

 _Why doesn’t he show his eyes more often?_ Tezuka thought absentmindedly. _Though perhaps… it might be a good thing._

Fuji would be able to knock out even the most stoic of people with those eyes of his.

But Tezuka found that he really wouldn’t mind seeing them more often in any other scenario.

“ _Arigatou_ , Tezuka,” Fuji said quietly as he inclined his head downwards. “Thank you _so much_. That was my best Christmas present _ever_.”

For once, Tezuka didn’t know how to reply to this show of gratitude and the obvious happiness that Fuji was displaying. The usual given replies when one is thanked seemed much too bland, too _ordinary_ to fit the current scene. But he couldn’t keep silent, even though words seemed rather insufficient to express anything at the moment, for it would be just plain rude or it could be viewed as arrogance. Tezuka didn’t want either interpretation to occur. And so, he did something that not even Inui would have predicted in spite of his data.

Tezuka smiled.

And enjoyed the faces of shock the simple action garnered from all his teammates and Yuuta.

“Don’t mention it, Fuji,” he then said simply as soon as Fuji regained his composure that had been lost when he had first smiled (although it was just a slight upturning of the corners of his lips) in return.

A strange hush descended as Tezuka and Fuji continued to just look at each other, no further words being exchanged among the duo. The soft smile on Tezuka’s face stayed in place long after it was probably needed, as did Fuji’s. Nobody dared to do anything to break this rather intimate moment.

There was no telling what could happen. Fuji was extremely unpredictable and they had all learnt about his reputation to be sadistic when he wanted to be. As for Tezuka… Well, nobody was insane enough to _want_ to run laps out on a _**cold winter** night_ , though technically speaking; it was a cold winter dawn.

Somehow knowing that the Seigaku Regulars would not be doing anything to disrupt this silence, Yuuta proceeded on his own. He brought out the raspberry pie and apple crumble from their respective containers. Both desserts had already been carefully cut into slices and Yuuta noted that there was just enough for everyone present, despite a minor miscalculation by his mother and elder sister in the number of people that would be present. Holding the containers in his hands, he went up to his brother and tapped him gently on the shoulders.

It took Fuji a second or so longer than he usually would have to respond to his younger brother. “Mm? Yuuta?”

“You should distribute these, aniki. There’s enough for everyone.”

“Aa. Thanks, Yuuta,” Fuji replied as he took the containers. He gently set them down on the nearest table and opened them up.

The sight of food seemed to rouse everyone from his apprehensive watchfulness of the scene. Momo, typically, was the first to start to gaze at the pies longing. Everything then reverted back to normal when Fuji gestured for everyone – inclusive of Ryuuzaki-sensei, Sakuno and Horio – to come and eat the dessert. Despite it being so late already as well as the possibility of getting indigestion if they ate any more, nobody passed up the chance to taste the raspberry pie and apple crumble. It was said that these desserts made by the two females in the Fuji family were especially tasty.

There were sighs of appreciation and verbal compliments as the first few bites were taken of each dessert. Some of them enjoyed it so much that they tried to steal seconds from the others. The first one to try was obviously Momo, but Ryoma turned him down with all his usual sassiness and cockiness injected into the simple word ‘no’. The resulting disappointed expression on the boy’s face was priceless and Fuji had hurriedly whipped out his camera to imprint it into the memory card before Momo could protest.

Next, and last, to attempt it was Eiji. He, however, chose a different target that was easier to persuade than Ryoma – Oishi. The teen, still in his cat costume though sans whiskers, padded up to his doubles partner, bent slightly so he was around the same height as Oishi was when sitting and then purred to get attention.

When Oishi looked up at the sound, all he saw with Eiji’s face in an almost irresistible begging expression, the cat ears making him look all the more endearing. There was no doubt about what Eiji wanted – the half of the apple crumble he still had. Oishi tried to say no (because he really liked the dessert too), but the pout that formed on Eiji’s face was too much for him to make himself disappoint his friend.

“Thank you _nya_! Oi~shi!” Eiji said joyfully as Oishi surrendered the remaining apple crumble to him with an affectionate smile that clearly said ‘just-what-do-I-do-about-you?’

A sudden flash of bright light alerted them that Fuji had just taken a picture of that particular scene. Fuji tilted his head to the side with a smile as they looked at him, abashed. Then he spoke a little cheekily, “Don’t worry, I’ll give the photograph to you once it’s developed so you can add it to that album of yours, Oishi.”

* * *

After all the deserts were finished, Ryuuzaki-sensei decided that it was rather late. Or at least it was much later than she had originally intended for this celebration cum Christmas party to end. She ordered everyone, with the exception of Yuuta, to clear up any trash on the floor and to push in all the chairs at the table. So they all set to work, including Yuuta who decided to help regardless of Ryuuzaki-sensei insisting that he was a guest. Kawamura took the opportunity to thank Fuji for the ornamental dagger. It took about ten more minutes before the place was tidied to Ryuuzaki-sensei’s satisfaction.

Oishi then suggested that the regulars take a group photograph with their coach to remember the occasion. So, Fuji passed his camera to Yuuta who became their ‘cameraman’ with Sakuno and Horio watching from the sides. The suggestion to take a single photo eventually turned out to include several more shots for somebody was always out of position at the point Yuuta pressed the ‘Capture’ button. It took about five more shots to get in one that everyone decided was satisfactory.

Then Tezuka asked if Yuuta would like to take a photo with the Seigaku regulars since he was also part of the celebration. Yuuta’s first thought was to decline the offer, but he changed his mind at the barely concealed hopeful look he received from his brother and nodded his agreement. Eiji, who was on one side of Fuji, automatically made space for Yuuta to slot himself beside his elder brother. After handing the camera to Ryuuzaki-sensei, Yuuta then joined the Seigaku Regulars, standing next to his brother.

A few more pictures later, everyone was all ready to return home. Now that the previous hype was gone, they were thoroughly worn out and several of them were already trying to stifle their yawns. Oishi took the opportunity to persuade Eiji to remove his cat ears and tail to much success as the other boy was too tired to really put up a good protest.

Eying the regulars, Ryuuzaki-sensei wisely decided it would be safer if they left in groups or pairs as it was late and they were getting sleepy. Therefore, those that happened to live in the vicinity of each other were naturally grouped together.

Kawamura was to send Horio back home first, whilst Oishi and Eiji would be going home together. Tezuka and the Fuji brothers would be leaving together. Inui was specially instructed to accompany the group that consisted of Momoshiro, Kaidou and Ryoma before going home for there was bound to be some conflict if the three were left on their own. It would be either Momo or Kaidou who would start the conflict, but Ryoma wouldn’t be able to stop them easily, if he even bothered to in the first place. Besides, the trio was the youngest three on the team and it would be safer if a senior were there. But one wondered whether Inui would cut the fight short or use the opportunity to collect more data. As they say, old habits die hard.

Bidding each other goodbye with yawns punctuating almost every alternate word for some, the groups left their school grounds and went their separate ways home. As each group departed, their thoughts inadvertently lingered on the Christmas party and the Secret Santa game. This particular experience wasn’t one that any of them would forget easily for many different reasons.

Especially and definitely not for a particular brown-haired, blue eyed senior who was walking home with his surprise and his ‘Santa’.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought it would be an interesting fact to the readers that other than for one particular pair of Secret Santa pairings (I think it should be pretty obvious which one it was), the rest of the match-ups were done by REALLY drawing lots. xD
> 
> This was also completed on Christmas Eve in 2005, and my first Prince of Tennis fanfic. ^^


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